h other as they passed along; while the names of
Castiglione, Bassano, and Roveredo rang througl the motley crowd. The
very children, "les enfants de troupe," seemed filled with the warlike
enthusiasm of their fathers; and each battalion, as it moved past,
stepped to the encouraging shouts of thousands who gazed with envious
admiration on the heroes of their country.

Never did the pent-up feelings of a nation find vent in such a universal
torrent of warlike fervor as now filled the land. The clank of the
sabre was the music that charmed the popular ear; and the "coquette
vivandiere," as she tripped along the gravel avenued of the Tuileries
gardens, was as much an object of admiration as the most splendidly
attired beauty of the Faubourg St. Germain. The whole tone of society
assumed the feature of the political emergency. The theatres only
represented such pieces as bore upon the ancient renown of the nation
in arms,--its victories and conquests; the artists painted no other
subjects; and the literature of the period appealed to few other
sympathies than are found in the rude manners of the guardroom or around
the watchfires of the bivouac. Pegault Lebrun was the popular author of
the day; and his works are even now no mean indication of the current
tastes and opinions of the period.

The predictions too hastily made by the English journals, that the
influence of Bonaparte in France could not survive the rupture of that
peace which had excited so much enthusiasm, were met by a burst of
national unanimity that soon dispelled the delusive hope. Never was
there a greater error than to suppose that any prospect of commercial
prosperity, any vista of wealth and riches, could compensate to
Frenchmen for the intoxication of that glory in which they lived as
in an orgy. Too many banners floated from the deep aisles of the
Invalides--too many cannon, the spoils of the Italian and German wars,
bristled on the rampart--not to recall the memory of those fete days
when a bulletin threw the entire city into a frenzy of joy. The Louvre
and the Luxembourg, too, were filled with the treasures of conquered
States; and these are not the guarantees of a long peace.

Such! in brief, was the state of Paris when the declaration of war by
Great Britain once more called the nation to arms. Every regiment was at
once ordered to make up its full complement to the war standard, and the
furnaces were employed in forging shot and casting cannon t